The Walking Dead: Whatever it Takes
by TheWarInside
Summary: Follow along with Reid O,Shea, as he tries to survive the zombie apocalypse. With a full OC group at his side, danger at every corner, and the little girl with the red hair. Will he be able to protect his newfound friends and family? Or will he succumb to the relentless ranks of the undead? /Full OC, slight OCxOC, mostly clean language/
1. Chapter 1

The Walking Dead: Whatever it Takes

Part 1

The Outbreak

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**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking dead. I only own the OCs in this story.**

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**Chapter 1**

The rain fell, splattering the ground wet. It didn't rain often here, but he still didn't like it. He was average height, with a lean but not large build, with medium length brown hair sticking to his face at odd angles. He wore a mid thigh length, black trench coat, and some designer jeans.

As he walked, the rain prompted a rush of memories from his childhood. How the adults would snicker at his failed attempts to avoid its icy cold clutches. How his sister Karen, loved the rain, how she would lean her head back and stick her tongue out, trying in vain to catch it all in her mouth. When they were older, he asked her what it was she liked about it. She would say that there was no feeling like rain sliding across your face, or slipping through ones fingers. He figured she just liked jumping in puddles with her red rubber boots.

He always was the more rational one, knowing when to speak and when to be silent. When to play and when to sit. But nothing ever stopped Karen.

Sitting now on a bench at the intersection on main street, he continued to ponder, on old times and the now, waiting for his ride to show up so he could get out of this darn rain.

After some time of sitting, a familiar police car pulled to the curb. _'Late as always.'_ He thought to himself. Though he wasn't one to hold a grudge.

"Have you been here long Reid?" Chris asked as the door opened.

"No, not long. But your fashionably late as always." Reid replied, setting his coat, lunch bag and study books on the back seat.

"Good. Wouldn't want you to catch a cold." Chris said with a slightly sarcastic tone. "The news said it was going to stop raining soon anyway."

Christopher was a police officer, just a beat cop, but a law enforcer nonetheless. He was a black skinned tall man, with a strong built body, his hair buzzed short, and a small beard on his chin. Reid and him became friends way back in the ninth grade, and became inseparable in high school. More so, Karen, and Chris' brother Kyle began dating a couple years back, and since then they have been like brothers. 'Thick as thieves' people would say, which is funny seeing there careers now.

"Man I cant wait till my shifts over. I am starving." Chris said, rubbing his belly.

"Would you like an apple?" Reid offered, remembering one in his lunch bag.

"Naw, I'm good. Thanks though." Chris said quickly.

"I thought you loved apples?" Reid asked suspiciously.

"O-oh, yeah, did I say that? I guess I'm just not in the mood for one right now." Chris said, stuttering at first.

"Yeah, you did say that. You used to go on about 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' all the time." Reid said.

"... Oh, yeah, I did say that didn't I. Well truth is, I lied. So what? its just an apple." Chris retorted.

"That explains that. But now the question is, why did you lie in the first place?" Reid said with a mischievous tone in his voice.

They sat in silence for a moment. Reid waiting on an answer, and Chris hoping he would give up. He wouldn't.

"I don't like the peel getting stuck in my teeth! Okay?" Chris said finally.

As the realization dawned on Reid, he smiled. Back in there younger days, Chris and Kyle's mom would make Kyle eat an apple everyday. And everyday, Kyle would complain about the peel getting stuck between his teeth. So Chris would make fun of him because he complained over something so little. He and Chris would then take it and play a little 'keep the apple away from Kyle'. But Kyle was a good sport and never really got mad.

After the wave of nostalgia subsided, they looked to each other and had a good laugh over it. All this time, and only now does he find out that Chris never liked apples either.

Once over there moment of laughter, they went back and forth over old times. Chris making fun of him because he hated the rain. Him reminding Chris about that one time high school. Life went on, the rain had stopped and the sun came out. It was your typical late spring day in Beautiful British Columbia.

As they neared the subdivision to his house, the radio started to buzz.

"We have a situation in progress at 3083 Glover road. Reports of cannibalism. The victim is okay, repeat, the victim okay, we've got backup and an ambulance en route." said a muffled voice on the radio.

"You wanna go on a ride along?" Chris asked. "This sounds urgent and were the closest ones there."

"Yeah, lets do it. I always wanted to see you in action so this is as good a time as any." He replied.

"10-04 sergeant, I'm on my way." Chris said to the radio as they sped off to Glover road.

Thinking now on what the sergeant had said, Reid shuttered. 'Cannibalism'. The word kept bouncing around in his head.

"Cannibalism?" He asked Chris.

"That's what I heard. I've heard there's been some crazy calls like that going on in the states." Chris said somewhat grimly.

"How crazy, specifically?" Reid asked.

"Well, specifically, a dad waited for his family to get home, and, well... Ate them." Chris said.

Reid at a loss for words, looked back to the road ahead in attempts to forget what he had just heard.

v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v

The property was secluded at the very end of the road, with trees surrounding it and a large fence, but it looked nice. It had a raised deck on the right side with a swing hanging underneath it, a fire pit around the left side with some logs to sit on, and little tiki torches lining the driveway giving it a sort of tropical feel.

The rain had stopped so Reid left his coat and things in the car, while Chris checked his gun and cuffs and began walking to the house.

"Hello?" Chris called out. "This is the police."

"Up here officer." The voice coming from the deck. "Hurry on up here! That girl took a bite out of my sons arm!"

Walking up the creaky stairs, Reid saw two faces. One was a man, probably in his late thirties with a worried expression on his face. The other was a small boy, no older then nine he thought, with a bandage wrapped around his arm. He looked like he had been crying recently and the bandage was tinted red.

"Hey there sir, I'm officer Christopher, and this is Reid O,Shea." Chris said extending a hand.

A look of relief flooded the mans features as he shook Chris' hand. "The names Robert, and this is my son, Jonathan. I really appreciate you getting here."

"Can I look at it?" Chris asked the boy. Jonathan nodded his head. "Oh, it don't look that bad." He said inspecting the wound. It was oozing blood and had a perfect outline of where the teeth had sunk in. "Wow, you must be pretty tough. Look at those arms!" Chris finished emphatically in an attempt to make Jonathan feel better. Earning him a small smile from Jonathan.

"Who did this?" Reid asked, wondering how someone could do something like that.

"Oh, yeah, she's locked in the master bedroom at the end of the hall." Robert said pointing in the house. "I didn't want to hurt her, but she just wouldn't stop, so I threw her in there for you guys to get her safely."

"Okay than. Reid, why don't you show Jonathan my squad car and tell the backups what's going on. I'm going to go in and keep an eye on her until they get here." Chris said.

"Okay Chris, be careful." Reid said, motioning for the father and son to follow him.

"Oh yeah, one more thing is, I don't think talking is going to work. I think she's on something strong you know." Robert said to Chris making a gesture of a syringe to his wrist.

"Alrighty. Thank you sir." Chris said walking through the door.

At the squad car, Reid let Jonathan in the front seat and his dad told him not to press any buttons.

"How did this happen?" He asked Robert.

"Don't rightly know." Robert began. "Tabitha was just baby sitting him while I was grocery shopping. She's been doing it with all the local kids recently. Baby sitting that is. Just to get some cash. She seemed like such a good kid. And when I got back, she was on top of him, just, chewing on his arm. So I grabbed her and threw her in that room and locked it." Robert said anxiously without pause.

He could tell Robert was reliving it all in his head, so he just let him think in silence.

After a few minutes he could see lights coming up the driveway. A squad car and one ambulance. He called Jonathan out and led him to the EMT's to look at him.

"Okay Jon, these guys are going to take care of you and your dad while I go talk with the other officers. Okay?" Reid said to the boy.

"Okay, thank you mister O,Shea." Jon said as his dad talked to the EMT's.

Walking over to the cops, Reid recognized one of them as Dan. He was an older man, probably in his late fifties, with greying hair and a white beard. The other one he didn't know, but he figured he was a rookie of some sort.

"Hey Dan, Its good to see you." He said extending a hand.

"Reid? Oh I haven't seen you in a coons age." Dan replied, taking his hand in a firm grasp. "So, what's all the hubbub goin' on here? Rodney, why don't you go help Chris in there." he finished motioning to his partner, who just nodded his agreement and walked off.

"Well, the father over there, Robert, was out grocery shopping and left a girl named Tabitha stay and watch his son, Jonathan. When he got back, he found him holding her off him with her teeth sunk in his arm." Reid explained.

"Hmm, that's odd. Been hearin' a lot of stuff like this going on. Strange if you ask me." Dan said.

"Yeah, its not your regular day on the job that's for sure." Reid said.

After waiting awhile, Chris and Rodney came back. Rodney had blood on him and was holding his side. Reid and Dan exchanged a glance and jogged over.

"What happened?" Reid asked.

"That crazy babysitter took a bite out of Rodney here." Chris said while Rodney walked to the ambulance. "She doesn't seem to want to come with us any time soon."

"Is there anything I can do?" Reid offered.

"Naw, I'm good. I'll go get her in cuffs and take Rodney to the hospital." Chris said. "Hey Dan, would you mind taking Reid home while I go get her?"

"Sure thing Chris." Dan replied. "Come on Reid, he'll be fine."

Reid seeing he wouldn't be able to do any more, consented and got in the car. He wanted to get home soon any way.

"Where'd you say your house was Reid?" Dan asked after they got to the highway.

"Oh, its in that new fancy community next to the highway. Its about half hour drive north." He replied.

"Oh, that's a nice place you got there." Dan said. "Me, I'm still living in one of those, cheep apartments in town. So what do you do to earn enough to live up there?"

"I'm a conservation officer." he said. "Conservation officer '_in training'_, that is." He said with air gestures. He was actually finished the course, but couldn't be official until the others in the class were finished as well.

"Oh that's great." Dan said." When you grading the program?"

"A couple more months, then I get the badge, guns and other cool gadgets for the job" He replied.

"Well that's good news." Dan said, ending the topic.

Now deep in thought, he wondered what his sister would do when he finally became official. She would be absolutely ripe with envy, but happy for him nonetheless. She'd probably ask to get a referral on the program and use him as a cheat sheet for all the answers. When they were young, there dad would take them out camping all the time. He was a very old school dad you enjoyed the simple things and bonding with his kids in the woods. When he passed away, Karen wanted to keep the spirit alive and went to work at a camping store, where Kyle worked, to help people survive the woods. Where as Reid decided to become the one to help nature survive man.

Thinking on the times camping with his dad, he realized something and looked in the back of the car hopefully, but looked back disappointed.

"What's the matter Reid?" Dan asked noticing the expression on his face.

"Its nothing. I just forgot my dads old coat in the back of Chris' car. He gave it to me before he passed away." Reid sad with a sad note.

"Oh, well that's a darn shame. I will make sure to get it back to you. No one takes the loss of there dad easily, and no one should lose them completely." Dan said, putting a hand on Reid's shoulder

Reid was taken aback, as it reminded him of what his dad had said to Chris when his father had died. Chris' father gave him a fishing pole, which he lost while on a camping trip with Reid and his dad. Dan had nearly quoted him word for word, tone for tone, and gesture for gesture.

Its been two years and it still hurt to think of him. His laugh, his smile, his stupid jokes. He could still remember his face, but every day it seemed to get foggier. And the worst thing was he couldn't decide if he wanted to forget him, or remember him forever. He thought his dad was one of a kind, but Dan seemed to be showing him otherwise. _'Maybe it just happens when you get older.'_ He thought to himself.

"You ever had kids Dan?" Reid asked, braking the silence.

"Yeah, yeah I did. Good ones at that. But I was, uh... A-a little to got up in the whole 'Your a cop now, you gotta protect the people' thing for my own good." Dan said with a sad tone.

Reid, not wanting to see Dan sad looked for something to pull him from his thoughts.

"You got satellite radio in here?" He asked.

"Sure do." Dan said. "What would you like to listen to?"

"Some soft rock would be just perfect." Reid said, glad to distract him.

"Ah, good choice." Dan exclaimed while looking down at the radio.

Reid, as snippets of songs from other stations whirred in his ears as Dan scrolled through, looked back up to the road.

"LOOK OUT!"

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His head was pounding, his body was breaking out in a sweat, his limbs were shaking and his ears rang. He couldn't remember where he was, what he was doing or why his head hurt. He was looking around and all he could see was light. It hurt to open his eyes, so he left them closed until that light was gone.

"Hey wait. Stop! I think this guy's okay!" He heard distantly. "Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?" The voice said, the owner of the voice now trying to shake him awake. He felt a couple sharp pains across his cheek.

"Get up man!" the voice continued to pester him.

_"Why wont they let me sleep this headache off?'_ He thought to himself, swinging his arms in attempt to shoo them away.

A new voice jumped in saying "We've got to go D-"

"Okay! I'm coming." the first snapped back before it could finish. "Just let me-" Reid didn't hear the rest because he blacked out again.

"HEY!" Reid was awake again, his vision cutting in and out, but, feeling much more comfortable laying down. And that pesky light was gone too.

"When you wake up, you come and find us okay? We'll be at th-"

**\Authors Notes/**

**Hey guys, here's the first chapter to my first story on FFnet!**

**I'm not totally satisfied with the way it turned out, but I can promise you this, the next chapter is already WAY better. Its nearly finished and will be uploaded soon, so please, bear with me. **

**With this being my first story, I'm looking for constructive criticism along with any tips anyone can give to make this story better. I look forward to writing this for you.**

**Until next time, this is TheWarInside, signing out.**

**Edit: Okay, so I just wasn't happy with the way the first chapter turned out, so I redid it and here it is! I also changed the name of part one to The Outbreak.**


	2. Chapter 2

The Walking Dead: Whatever it Takes

Part 1

The Outbreak

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**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking dead. I only own the OCs in this story.**

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**Chapter 2**

Reid woke up with a start, hitting his head on something above him. "Ow. Darn it!" He grumbled, it didn't help his aching head. He figured it better to find out what was going on before trying to move again. He could tell he was hurt, but not badly. He could feel a bruise across his chest and waist, and his head felt light.

He thought it was strange he was laying on asphalt, underneath a car. _'What the heck happened' _ He thought to himself. He began to remember the rain, getting in with Chris, the sergeant on the radio, meeting Jonathan, and then he remembered leaving his coat in the other car. _'Holy crap!'_ He thought, realizing him and Dan were in a crash. Though he couldn't figure out exactly how he got under the car. _'Oh no, what happened to Dan!'_ He somehow knew, with Dan's older age, he wouldn't have faired as well as Reid did.

He began to crawl out from under the car, noting to himself to figure out how he got there. When the sun hit his face, he realized it was mid morning. When they were driving it was early evening. _'How long was I out?'_ He thought to himself, looking to the sky for an answer, but knowing it wouldn't give him one.

"Whoa." he exclaimed, seeing what they hit. It was a huge multi car crash on the highway. He could see an exit ahead, where the crash must have started, and it ending where he was standing. Getting slightly more frantic from the sight, he opened the door to Dan's squad car. He found what he was looking for, but not how he wanted to find it.

The windshield was shattered and there was blood everywhere. Dan had his face planted into what was left of the windshield, his skull was cracked open, leaving his corpse to rot in the world. The worst smell Reid could imagine, assaulted his nose as he backed away from the car, leaving his heart stunned and his stomach retching all it contained onto the road.

_'Why do the kindest of people always have to die?'_ He thought to himself as the painful tears left his eyes. When his stomach was pleased that it was empty, he got up and began to stumble away from the car. Not knowing exactly what to do he just walked down the car lined highway.

The rational part of his brain began to say 'There's probably still people left in some of those cars! Go help them!' But, he didn't feel like being rational right now. So he walked, and walked, as death lingered on his senses.

_'Mom, Dad, Dan. Mom, Dad, Dan.'_ His brain played on repeat. These three people, were what he strived to be like, the ones who put others before themselves. He didn't know when exactly Dan began to mean so much to him, but he didn't care. He was grieving right now. He had known others who had died, but none of them left any kind of impact on him.

It was a beautiful day, but he couldn't see it, all he could see was Dan's caved in skull.

'Snap out of it! Why should you let this dead man, whom you barely knew, wreck you this badly!' The logical compass of his brain kicked in again. Why did it hurt him so much? He pondered on there conversation during the drive. Dan had said he had a family, with kids. And now, he wouldn't ever be able to fix whatever wrongs he had with them? Reid's heart wrenched at the thought. He didn't want to die without making up with his own loved ones.

Slowly coming back to himself, he realized he hadn't seen any response crews at the crash site. Actually, now that he really thought about it, he hadn't seen _anybody_ since Dan was alive. He looked around, curious now as to how far his subconscious mind had taken him, only to find out he was near his house. He decided it best to go there and collect himself, and his thoughts.

The rest of the walk was very odd, not a soul to be found and nearly every car was gone from its driveway. _'Where is everybody?'_ He thought. After another block of seeing nobody, he finally was at his house. As was going to reach for his keys he remembered he left them in his coat. And he didn't own a cell phone to call Chris to bring them to him. Starting to get grumpy now, he started looking around the house for a way in. He came around to the kitchen window and found it open, but it was to high up, so he grabbed a garbage can to climb up on.

"Crap!" He exclaimed as the lid flipped, cutting into the side of his leg, drawing blood. Now very determined to get in, he flipped the can over, dumping all its contents on the ground, and tried again. His now injured leg was giving him some trouble, but he finally crashed down to the tile floor with a thud.

A sigh escaped his lips as he stood up. He was relieved to be back in his own house. More so he was happy he could get some food, since he puked what he had ate all over the road when...

Shaking his head to push the thoughts out, he went to the fridge to find some food. He didn't have much but was satisfied, with a sandwich, large cup of coffee and an ibuprofen on the side, he went to sit in the living room. As he ate, he started to try and figure out the details of what had happened. He began replaying the events with Chris, then the house with Robert and his son, then the crash. But he felt like he was forgetting something important. _'How did I get under the car?'_ He thought to himself, with a large gulp of coffee to wash the pill down. He was raking his brains to figure it out, but he just couldn't remember.

Finishing his meal, he went to the bathroom to find his first aid kit and bandage his leg. Looking in the mirror, he saw his face had some dried blood on it. Cringing, he washed it off wondering if it was his or Dan's. Looked again at his, now clean, complexion, he noticed a few bruises and cuts. He figured he wouldn't need stiches, and began wrapping a bandage around his leg. He knew he was going to limp on it for a few days, but it wasn't that bad.

He began to wonder about what had happened to Chris? And why were there no emergency vehicles on the highway crash yet? '_Surely someone will call 911' H_e thought. But then again, he didn't see anyone on his walk here, did he just not notice them?

As he walked back into the kitchen, he looked at the calendar and saw the date. He was with Chris on the 19th of June. Now it was the 21st, the first day of summer. He had been unconscious, under a car, for two whole days. _'How did nobody notice that crash?' _he thought. But then, he started to recall a voice's. Suddenly realization dawned on him. "There was someone there." He thought aloud. All the memory came back. The pain, the headache, the bright light and the voices. Whoever he, or she was, they shoved him under the car and told him to find them later. But he couldn't remember where they said to find them. _'Why would I need to find them? Why would I not just go to the hospital?'_ He thought.

Freaking out a bit now, he went to call Chris and figure out what was going on. He dialed Chris's number, put the phone to his ear. Static. The line was dead. He tried again but it was obvious he was going to be out of contact for a while. He quickly hit the messages button to see if Chris had called him.

"You have, three, new messages." The monotone female voice said. "First message. From, June, 19th."

"Hey Reid, it's Karen. If you get this, call me back soon, something really strange is going on and I wanted to make sure you were okay. So let me know later. Talk to you soon. Bye."

"End of message" The voice stated.

Why had he not thought to call her first? He would have been worried sick if she had disappeared for two days. But he was glad that she was okay from whatever this strange thing was though.

"Second message. From, June, 20th." Said the recording.

"Hey Reid, Its Karen again, are you okay? It's not like you to not call back, but anyway, please call me back soon, I'm getting scared. The military is saying for people to stay indoors and not to go outside alone. I hope you're okay. I love you Reid. Talk to you soon."

"End of message" It repeated

_'What's going on?'_ Reid thought to himself. His pulse was racing when he heard her talk. She sounded like she was in trouble. He had to go find her.

"Third message. From, June, 20th." The voice said without empathy for his situation.

"Reid pick up the phone!" It was Chris's voice, but there were others shouting. And there was something else. Gunshots. He went to pick it up, but realized it was just a recording.

"Dude, I don't know what's going on but its crazy out here." Chris continued. "Kyle's been calling me, but I cant call him back because its so crazy out here. I hope you're safe man, because... W-well, I-I'm in a bit of a tight spot right now." More gunshots rang out.

Reid broke out in a sweat. This message was a day old. Could Chris be dead right now? He didn't want to think about that.

"Okay I've got to go, but you promise me to go check on Kyle and your sister. Okay? I will do my best to be there, but I wont be able to make it there for a few days." Chris's voice was quiet for a second. The shouting and gunshots never stopping.

"I-If I don't make it there, don't wait up for me okay." Chris finished

"End of message." The recording said for the last time.

Before he had anytime to think about what he just heard, a scream ripped through the air.

"AAAHHHHH! Help me!" Screamed a female voice.

Reid, already on an adrenaline high, took off towards the door, grabbing his wooden baseball bat as he opened the door. Running, with a limp, towards the voice, he went around fences and dashed across yards to get to the source.

He stopped on a pathway between two tall fences, having not heard her again for what felt like forever. After a moment, he heard a groaning noise on the yard to his right. Hobbling to the gate, short of breath he called out "I'm coming!" As he tried to knock the gate down. After a few kicks, he noticed it was held up with two hinges. Pulling the pins out, the gate fell down and he ran in the yard only to be stopped in his tracks. Reid, totally shocked, gasped seeing this awful sight.

There was a body on the ground and a figure hunched over it. The body was a woman, from what he could tell, and she was in a business suit. She wore a large, golden name tag, but he couldn't read it from how far away he was. There was blood all over her, and her stomach was ripped open, spilling her bowels on the lawn.

The figure looming above her was a man, whose mouth and hands were covered in blood as it tried and rip flesh from the dead body. It too, was wearing a suit and tie, but it was hard to tell from all the blood. Shoving whatever meat it could into its mouth it looked up, with its milky dead eyes locking with Reid's, it let out a loud gurgle from its torn open throat.

Reid, horrified, ran back out the gate and towards the adjacent yard. Luckily, the gate was unlocked. He swung it open, ran inside and fell to his knees. _'What the hell was that?!' H_e thought, letting out many laboured breaths, trying to keep his lunch down.

He could smell the terrible stench of death from over the fence. Oh how he hated that smell. It made his eyes water up and it upset his stomach. The groans continued, but it seemed like that, 'thing', had gone back to its meaty meal. What was going on? That man should have been dead, his throat was ripped apart and his chest had numerous gaping holes. Gathering himself, Reid began to understand why Karen and Chris sounded so freaked out. He needed help. He stood up and checked himself a bit, his leg was bleeding again and the bandage was torn. _'Figures'_ He thought. He would have to get a new one before he could go check up on Karen.

Trying to push away the thoughts of Karen or Chris going through something similar, he thought about where he was. He was definitely still in his neighborhood, but he wasn't sure how to get back to his house. _'I could probably get a bandage at one of these house's' _He thought.

"Hello? I could use some help. I hurt my leg and it needs bandaging." He said through the screen door. "I'm not a bad guy, or one of those 'monsters', I just need some help."

Thinking nobody was home, he opened the door and saw that it was much like his was for interior, but it had a unique feeling of its own. As he looked for the bathroom, he saw a picture on the wall, it was of the family that lived there. There was a mom, dad and a little girl. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he kind of recognized the parents. Then it hit him. The mother was the lady being eaten next door, and the dad, was the one eating her.

Cursing under his breath, holding his head in his hands. _'Where's the girl?' _He thought.

"Is there anybody here?" He called out, looking for her. He left his bat on the table to make sure it didn't scare her. "I promise I'm not one of those monsters."

After walking down to the end of a hallway, he heard a small noise from behind a door.

"I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I'm going to open the door now and see if I can help you. And maybe you can help me. How does that sound?" He said through the door with the most diplomatic voice he could muster.

"... O-Okay. You promise you're not a bad guy, right?" A small sounding voice said back.

"I promise." He said. "Can I come in?"

The door, slowly, began opening to reveal the master bedroom. It was cosy looking, he could see drawings and paper all over the floor, along with some cheese and crackers. As it finished opening the rest of the way, he saw the girl standing there looking up at him.

She had bright red hair that hung to her mid back, a simple purple T-shirt with a unicorn on it, and some black leggings. She couldn't be much older then eight. They were just standing there, staring at each other, not sure what to do. Not wanting to scare her, he bent down to her eye level, and slowly and put his hands up in surrender.

"See? I'm not a bad guy am I?" He asked.

"... N-no, I guess not." She said, breaking eye contact and looking at the floor. "I thought you were one of those monsters."

"How old are you?" Reid asked not wanting to lose her attention.

"I-I'm um, nine-and-one-half. But my friends always say that its the same as just nine." She replied slowly at first, looking up to him.

"That's great! I loved being that age." He said. "You want to know a little secret though?" He whispered while leaning his head down.

"...Sure" She answered, leaning in.

"Nine, and nine-and-one-half, are completely different." Reid whispered into her ear, earning a smile from her. "Nine-and-one-half is, way, bigger."

"See, I knew it! I cant wait to tell my friends!" She exclaimed happily.

"What happened to your leg? Does it hurt bad? Because my parents have some things they use in the bathroom when I get hurt." She asked staring at his bleeding leg.

"Oh that would be great." He replied, wondering if she knew her parents were just over the fence... "Lead the way" He motioned, trying not to linger on the thought.

"Okay." She said, walking past him cautiously, towards a door near the kitchen.

"Right here. One thing though, don't forget to wash your hands." She said, whispering the last bit. "Mommy says you should always wash your hands when you go to the bathroom."

Reid chuckled a bit. "I gotcha."

As he looked for some bandages he asked. "What's your name?"

"Elizabeth." She answered from out side the room. "W-what's yours?"

"My name's Reid." He said exiting the room with a first aid kit. "Its a pleasure to meet you Elizabeth." He said offering his hand.

After hesitating a second, she reached out with a smile. "You too."

"Okay, now to put the bandage on." Reid said, sitting in a chair in the dinning room

"Okay. Do you need any of that stingy stuff?" She asked with a cringe. "I don't like it because it hurts, but my parents say it makes it better faster."

"Yeah, that would be great." He answered, knowing it was some kind of disinfectant.

"Okay. I'll go get it for you." She said walking to the kitchen.

_'What am I going to do with her?'_ He thought. _'Does she know about her parents?' _He pondered for a while on what his next move was. He had to go find his sister, but now that Elizabeth was here, he couldn't just leave her. He still needed to go home and pack for his drive, never mind packing for a little girl. _'How do I convince her to come with me?'_

"Okay, here it is." She came back, holding a cloth and the bottle at arms length.

"Thank you very much, Elizabeth." He said, accepting it from her outstretched hand. Taking the cloth, he unscrewed the bottle and poured some onto the cloth.

"Now is the stinging part." Elizabeth said, covering her ears and cringing, as he rubbed it into the gash on his leg.

"Phew, you never do get used to that do you?" Reid said with a huff of relief. Earning him a small chuckle from her. Wrapping the bandage around his leg, he asked. "When's the last time you saw your parents?" trying to find out if she knew they were next door. But, he needed to know so he could convince her to come with him.

"I saw them _really_ early this morning when they left to get some food. I just went back to sleep in their room. When I woke up again, I did some colorings." She said. "Would you like to see some?"

_'So she doesn't know, that's good I suppose.'_ Reid thought to himself. "Not right now, but I would love to see them later." Now, finished wrapping his leg, he presented it to her. "There. That feels much better."

"Okay, that's good. But don't forget." She said making the gesture of washing her hands.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Thank you for reminding me." He said. 'Now_ how am I going to get her to come with me?'_ He thought while he scrubbed his hand clean. _'I could just ask her to come with me I suppose. But she would want to wait for her parents to come home.'_

As he continued to think, there was a knocking sound at the back door. "Oh, that's probably my Mommy and Daddy! You should come meet them Reid!" Elizabeth said running to the door. Reid, realizing what that could really mean, ran after her. Just as he got to the kitchen, the door opened, and sure enough, it was one of those monsters. He could tell because its arm was missing from the elbow, down. But, it was standing there with its back turned to them, so he thought if he could grab Elizabeth quietly, they coul-

"Eeek!" Elizabeth shrieked. The thing turned around, letting out a low growl, preparing for its next meal.

Reid ran up, and pulled her back and punched the man straight in the jaw. "Elizabeth, run! Reid yelled just as the 'thing', began trying to and grab him and take a chomp. He struggled to stand as they wrestled, but his leg was still sore, so he collapsed with it on him. Now getting a very good look at it, Reid saw it had rotted, and its eyes were glazed over with a strange murkiness.

Its teeth gnashed at him, trying to get a bite, as Reid fought to hold it up and away from him. With a sharp kick in the side, it fell off of him onto the tile flooring. Adrenaline pumping, he tried to get to his baseball bat on the table, but his hurt leg was grabbed. He began to kick it in the face repeatedly, with his good leg, until he was free from its grasp. Now getting up, he ran and grabbed the bat, and turned around expecting it to be right behind him, but he saw it crawling over to Elizabeth in the living room.

Dashing to it, he kicked it in the ribs, flipping it on its back and its attention focused back to him. Swinging the bat with all his strength, he began beating it. But nothing even seemed to faze it, its like it couldn't feel pain. As it tried to grab his leg, the swinging bat collided with its head, sounding out a satisfying crunch. But it recovered from the blow, and resumed trying to get a mouth full of his leg. Finally finding a weakness, Reid stepped out of the range of its reaching arm, raised his bat, and with a sharp yell, swung down, again and again, until, with a loud crack, its skull crushed, spraying brain matter all over the floor.

Dropping the baseball bat with a clatter, he stumbled to the living room, and with a big sigh, sat down on the couch. Disgusted by what he had just done, he held his head in his hands.

"Did you kill it." Elizabeth asked between quiet sobs.

"Y-yeah, I think so." Reid said, still shell shocked. "I-I'm going to go take it outside. Okay?" he finished.

"Ok." She replied almost silently.

Walking back he realized how messy the house was now. There was blood everywhere, and a dark red puddle surrounding its crushed skull. Stepping carefully around it, trying not to lose his lunch, he grabbed its feet and began pulling it to the door. Some chunks of the skull staying behind. Just as he got to the door, he looked behind him, stunned as he saw more stumbling through the yard, and there were two at the doorway. It was Elizabeth's mom and dad. Knowing he didn't stand a chance, and he couldn't let her see them, he ran back to the living room.

"We have to get out of here!" He exclaimed while scooping Elizabeth up. "Just close your eyes, dont look at them." He said hoping to prevent seeing of her moms guts hanging out, or, seeing her dads exposed spine through his throat.

With her tears staining his shirt, he ran out the front door, into the unknown. "I'll protect you. Whatever it takes."

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**\Authors Notes/**

**Hey everybody, I hope you enjoyed chapter two!**

***avoids rotten food* I'm sorry if Elizabeth seems like a ripped off version of Clementine from the games. But looking at it from a writers perspective, a young girl is perfect for an apocalypse drama/adventure. And writing a long term child is going to be fun ;)**

**Okay, as of now, I can say that I love writing, but, I am so bad at editing. I can type out a mostly coherent 4k word chapter in a day, but, the process of going back and adding parts, removing them, and correcting them is exhausting. But I will brave the storm and I shall emerge a survivor.**

**Also usual things here: If there's any tips you can give me as a writer, or there's something in this story that bugs you, let me know and I will try to improve. However, if all you want is to read, that's one hundred percent ok!**

**Oh, one more thing. I'm looking for a cover image for this story, so if you or someone you know, has cool survivor or zombie art/makeup/photo/anything that would work for a book cover, send me a pm.**

**Until next time, this is TheWarInside, signing out.**


	3. Chapter 3

The Walking Dead: Whatever it Takes

Part 1

Outbreak

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**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking dead. I only own the OCs in this story.**

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**Chapter 1**

The sound of groaning was in every yard, and the smell of rot was all encompassing. Reid walked with Elizabeth, hand in hand, between rows of houses and down empty roads. The destination was his house, the journey was the question. He hadn't realized how far he ran to find the voice, crying out in pain, who turned out to be Elizabeth's mom. He tried push the thoughts from his head.

"I think we're almost to my house." He said starting to recognize the area.

"Ok." She responded. "Why are you not sure? Did you just move here?" She asked with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, I just moved here a couple of months ago." He said, glad she seemed to be recovering from before. "How long have you lived here?"

"Hmm." She began, with a distant look. "My parents and me moved here a while ago. Before that we lived at a lot of places for daddy's work."

"That must be nice to stay in one place for awhile. I guess that means you know the neighborhood better then me." He said

"No. I don't know it very well. I mostly stay at my house." She said shaking her head a little.

"Oh." Reid said, not sure how to answer. "Where do you go to school?"

"... Promise me you wont laugh?" She said looking up at him.

Reid, perplexed by this, nodded his head in assurance. "I promise."

"Ok. I'm home schooled." She said with a frown.

Reid, confused why she would be ashamed of something like that, almost chuckled, but caught himself. "Why would you think I would laugh?"

"Well, all my friends think its weird. Some mean boys sometimes call me weird. But I like it, its nice that my mommy was my teacher." She said, looking forward again.

"Oh yeah, I bet that would be very nice." He said, wondering if she had saw them shambling through her house when they ran out the door. "Parents always know best so that would be perfect."

"Yeah, it is." She said with a smile.

After another minute they were at his house, he opened the door with a flourish. "Ta-da. What do you think?"

Elizabeth looked around for a bit. "It looks sorta like my house. Only yours stinks a little." She said scrunching her nose.

Reid chuckled at that. Chris would say the same thing when he came over to watch hockey. "Are you hungry?" Reid asked gesturing the fridge.

Elizabeth nodded her head with a smile, taking a seat at the counter. "Yes please."

"Ok, well what would you like?" He asked.

"Ummm. Do you have any ice cream?" She asked hopefully.

"Haha! Sorry I don't. But I do have some bread, peanut butter and jam. How does that sound?" He asked.

"Ok." She said with an exaggerated pout. "That sounds nice."

As Reid began making a couple sandwiches, he tried piecing together everything again. How had this all happened? He woke up this morning under a car, saw Dan dead in his car and then stumbled home. He then tried calling his loved ones but the lines were dead, possibly heard the last words from his very best friend, found Elizabeth and killed one of those, 'things', and now he's home making sandwiches.

The weight of everything getting to him, he tried to shake the past from his mind and put the future in its place. _'What's my next move.'_ He thought. He needed to get to his sister, but he also needed to take care of this girl. _'How am I going to get her to come with me?'_

Finished the sandwiches, he poured some orange juice and set it in front of Elizabeth. "Alright, dig in." He said, as they chowed down on there food and drinks.

"So, Elizabeth." Reid began. "What do you want to do after we finish eating?" He asked, wondering if he could convince her to come with him to find Karen.

"Hmm. Oh, I know, we could go play hide and seek!" She said excitedly.

He chuckled at that. "Well that does sound like fun, but I mean more like serious stuff." He said.

"Oh, ok." She said slightly disappointed. "I'm not sure. What about my parents?"

_'I don't think they made Elizabeth.'_ He said in his mind. "I don't know. I'm sure that if there okay, they will come find you." He half lied, not actually knowing what had happened to them or if they could get better.

"Oh." She said, slightly downcast.

"Well I'll tell you my plan then." Reid said hating to see her upset. "My sister, Karen, called me the other day and said she needed to talk to me. But the phones aren't working, so my plan is to go find her, and help her through all this stuff." He explained.

"Ok, that sounds like a good idea." She responded. "But, what about me?"

"Well that's my next question. Would you like to come with me?" Reid asked hoping she would say yes. He didn't know what to do otherwise.

She was silent for a moment as she swallowed the last of her orange juice. "... I don't know. Maybe. What do you think?" She asked.

"I would love it if you came with me Elizabeth." He said with a soft voice. "Did you know you are the first person I've seen this whole time?"

"Really? What happened?" She asked curiously.

"Well its a long story, but I'll tell you the short version." He sad turning his chair to face hers. "A few days ago, me and my friend Chris, he's a cop, were driving when he got a call. So we went there and he did his cool cop stuff, then because he would be busy for awhile, someone else gave me a ride home." He explained with Elizabeth listening intently.

"We ended up crashing. I woke up later, underneath the car and walked home to call the police. But when I got home, I saw the calendar. I was under that car for two days. Then I heard something and ran outside to find it. And then I met you. And here we are." He finished his tale.

"Whoa." She said with wide eyes.

Reid chuckled a little at her reaction. "So now I will ask you again. Would you like to come with me? I would really like the company."

"... Are you sure?" She asked, as if she thought that she was a burden.

"I'm sure." He said.

"Ok, I'll go with you." She answered. "What should I do?"

"That's great! You don't have to do anything, I'll go pack a bag and change my clothes..." He said, trailing off as he looked at the blood stains. "Do you need something to do while I get ready?"

"Umm. Do you have any coloring stuff? I left all my stuff at home." She replied.

"I sure do." He said getting up to retrieve them.

_'Well this is going easier then I thought.' _He thought to himself. Giving her the drawing things, he went off to get changed and pack a bag. He didn't know what it was going to be like in the city, and after that first encounter with whatever 'it' was, he didn't want to know. He was still sort of in shock over it all, but he knew there was nothing he could do. He beat that man to death with a bat, that can never be erased from his mind.

While packing some clothes, he found an old hoodie that would fit Elizabeth. It used to be Karen's, but she couldn't fit in it anymore. Now moving onto the food, he realized he didn't have much more other than some bread, and a bottle of water. He threw them in anyway and figured they could just buy some more food somewhere. Zipping up the bag, he walked back to get Elizabeth who was happily drawing on some paper.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Yup, I think so." She said stacking her papers and handing them to him.

"Oh, those are nice." He said admiring her art. It was her house with her and her parents standing in front. In his mind, he could see her moms guts spilling out, and her dads spine exposed through his throat.

"Thanks." She said with a smile, as they walked out the door.

Not seeing any of those monsters out there, they walked to the car. He opened the door for Elizabeth, threw the bag in the back seat, and jumped in to drive.

"Cross your fingers." He said, knowing that his car was a piece of crap to start.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked, perplexed by this, but doing it anyway.

"For good luck, to help the car start. Haven't you heard that one before?" He asked.

"No. Does it work?" She asked curiously, looking at her intertwined fingers.

"Well I guess we will find out." He said turning the key, and with a sputter, the engine revved to life.

"It worked!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

Reid let out a low chuckle as they drove towards the highway. "It sure did." He said, pleased it hadn't given out on him just yet.

_'So far so good.' _Reid thought as they drove. Judging by the sun, it was probably early evening by now, and the sun would disappear behind the mountains in a couple hours. It would probably be dark long before the got to Karen's.

Thinking back on the day, Reid recalled the messages on his phone. He wondered what had happened to Chris. The rational part of his brain reminded him that this was Chris, the one guy who seemed to get out of everything alright, but he just couldn't shake the worry. Karen was another matter. She was the only immediate family he had left. If anything had happened to her, he didn't know what he would do.

"Reid! Look!" Elizabeth exclaimed, pulling him from his thoughts and slowing the car down.

A few deer were milling about on the side of the road. A few doe's, a single buck and one fawn nipping at its mother. The buck was good looking but still young. It was a just a four pointer but nice looking nonetheless. But Reid figured it was the baby that had caught Elizabeth's attention.

"There so pretty." She sighed.

"Yeah, they sure are." He said, speeding up again as the deer dashed back to the tree line.

"Is it true people kill them just for there horns?" She asked.

"Yeah they do. But there called antlers, not horns." He said, her just nodding her head in understanding. "Guess how I know that?" He asked.

"Hmmm." Elizabeth hummed, pondering up an answer. "Are you a hunter?" She asked.

"No, but I have gone hunting once or twice. I know, because I'm a conservation officer. That means, I'm like a police officer, only I catch the people who do bad things to animals and out in the woods." He explained.

"Oh ok." Elizabeth said with some relief. "Have you got a bad guy doing that before?"

"Yes, well, sort of. I'm still training, so I was just going along to help while the teacher did all the hard work." Reid said.

"Ok. That's cool!" She exclaimed. "Do you see deer all the time?"

He let out a little laugh. "Well not all the time. Just when we drive out to the woods mostly."

"Well you still see them more then I do." Elizabeth said with a small huff.

Reid just chuckled again. Elizabeth was quite something. He had only met her around noon, but he already felt like he had known her forever. He was still worried about her not knowing about her parents, but he figured he would tell her when the time was right.

They drove in silence for awhile, admiring the nature around them, until they made it into town that is. It looked like a warzone everywhere they looked. There were cars crashed, bodies wrapped and piled, and a few of those 'things', just, walking around. They drove by what looked like a normal person, until it turned around, showing off its half eaten chest and legs.

"Just close your eyes Elizabeth." He told her. She did.

Reid never thought it would be this bad. _'I don't even know what this is!'_ He thought to himself. What could it be? Maybe it was just some sickness. If it was, there was probably a cure being manufactured right now by the CDC in Vancouver. He tried to hold onto that hope as his stomach churned from all the death around them.

"Reid?" Elizabeth's voice came out softly.

"Yes? What is it." Reid asked, seeing the roads were clearer ahead.

"... I need to pee." She answered, with a bit of embarrassment in her voice.

"Oh, ok. That's fine." He said, noticing they were low on gas. "There's a gas station ahead we can stop at. Okay?"

"Ok Reid." She said looking outside again, not seeing any of the monsters around.

The area around the gas station looked untouched for the most part, but the gas station itself had been hit hard by the masses of people trying to fill there tanks and leave town. The glass windows smashed and inside looked a frat party ran through. There were cars piled around the pumps and out onto the road. As far as Reid could tell, there were no monsters walking around, so he made the first move and got out, motioning for Elizabeth to do the same.

They stepped inside cautiously, the door creaking as it swung open. Reid had never thought it would be this bad. How could it have gotten this bad? He didn't have the answers, but he intended on finding them.

"Reid?" Elizabeth said, standing next to the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"The door is locked." She said. "Do you think someone's in there?"

"No, I don't think so. The keys are probably behind the counter." Reid said, walking over and looking for them.

"Ok, please hurry." She said with a squeaky voice crossing her legs.

Reid hopped over the counter and began rummaging around. It seemed most things had be grabbed and the cash register was smashed open. Finally seeing a hook labeled keys, he looked around it but couldn't find them. Worried he might have to break the door down, he spun around and something caught his eye. The sliding door for the cigars and cigarettes was open, which means...

"I think I found them." He called out, pulling them from the lock.

"Wait." Elizabeth said just as he was going to open the door. "What if a monster is in there?"

Reid pondered it for a moment. "Yeah, you're right. Better safe then sorry." He said, earning a smile from her.

Looking around again for something he could use as a weapon if need be, he found a metal pipe barely attached to a shelf and brought it back.

"Ready?" Reid asked.

"Ready." She said, standing behind him.

He swung the door open with the pipe leading in front of him. To there relief, the room was empty. They both let out a sigh.

"Ok, see, its okay." He said. "I'm going to see if I can get some gas in the car while you do your business in there. Okay?"

"Okay." She said, closing the door behind her.

Reid waited to hear the door lock before going. He hadn't realized it until now, but his heart was racing a mile-a-minute. He tried to compose himself before walking out the front door. Seeing there was no way he was going to get his car to the pump, he began searching the cars for a jerry can. After searching almost all of them, he found one in the back seat of a truck, but the door was locked. It was starting to get dark, so seeing no other way to get in, he grabbed a rock, took a few steps back and threw it, smashing the window with a loud crash.

Cringing at the loud noise, he quickly grabbed the jerry can, ran to pump and squeezed the handle. No gas came out. He panicked for a moment when he realized he hadn't paid for it to turn on. He ran back to his car and grabbed his wallet and slammed the door shut as he ran back to the pump.

The gas paid for, he squeezed the handle again and a steady flow of gasoline poured out into the can. Reid now relieved that gas wouldn't be a problem, let out a loud sigh. He hadn't realized how stressed out he was during this whole ordeal.

The sun was almost gone and he was just about done filling the can. _'I should probably fill this can up again before we go just incase.' _He thought to himself, planning out his next moves. He was pulled from his thoughts as a loud snarl came from behind him and nearly pushed him over.

He spun around and nailed the monster right in the face as they fell to the ground, causing it to fall away from him. The jerry can smashed against the ground and spilled its contents over them both. Panicked, Reid began pushing himself away as the creature recovered from the blow, and began crawling after him. He kicked it in the face every time it got close as he backed away. His back hit something, so he used it to help him up, as the thing continued to crawl towards him.

Reid stepped away and looked around seeing that there were more coming from the road they came from, and there were some shambling around the truck with the smashed window. _'Elizabeth!'_ His thoughts screamed as he ran into the station, with a trail of walking corpse's following after him.

"Elizabeth! Open the door!" Reid yelled knocking on it.

"I'm just washing my hands!" She said back.

"NOW!" He shouted as the 'things' were currently tripping over themselves to get to him.

"What's the matter?" She said as Reid ran in and closed the door.

"There are more of those things in the store!" He said locking the door.

The sounds of groaning became louder, as the dead began beat on the door, trying to get to there next meal. Elizabeth, struck with fear, clamed up and sat down on the floor. Reid realized the way it looked. It looked like they were trapped in there, with no way out and not a hope of killing them all. He wanted her to never be afraid again.

"Hey." Reid said with a soothing voice, sitting down next to her. "Its okay. We are going to be okay."

"W-what i-if they get in?" Elizabeth managed between quick breaths.

Reid began rubbing her back in circles to settle her down. "Don't worry, there's no way they can get through that door." He said. "And as a matter of fact, I don't plan on being stuck in here, so we are going to find a way out."

Reid figured she was calming down a bit because she had more control of her breathing. "How?" She asked with one stray tear running down her cheek.

Reid looked around and instantly saw the small window near the ceiling. "You see that window?" He asked, she nodding. "Its small, but I think we can fit through it."

With a big breath in and out, Elizabeth stood up. "Ok. Thanks Reid." She said.

Reid examined the window, but it didn't look like it could open. "Looks like I'm going to have to break it." He said.

"With what?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm not sure. Lets look around and see if there's anything in here." He answered as be began looking around.

"Did you find anything?" Reid asked, having not found anything.

"No." She answered. "Now what?"

"I might be able to just punch it, but the glass will cut me if I don't protect my hand with something." He said walking over to the paper towel dispenser. After pulling a bunch out, he wrapped his fist and arm with it and prepared to hit it. _'This is gonna hurt.'_ He thought as he swung his fist at the glass, cracking it.

"OUCH!" He cried, trying to refrain from using curse words in front of Elizabeth. The noise seemed to rile up the things on the other side of the door.

"Are you okay?" She asked with a pained expression.

"I think so." He said with his hand throbbing. "One more hit and it should break."

With one last swing, the glass shattered around his hand, slicing the paper towel, but sparing his flesh.

"Okay," He began shaking his hand free of its wrapping, trying to ignore the pain. "I'm going to give you a boost, and you're going to look through the window and see if there are any monsters out there. Okay?"

"Alright." She said resolutely.

"Well, do you see any?" Reid asked, with Elizabeth sitting on his shoulders.

"I dont see any. They must all be inside." She replied.

"Good." He said putting her down. "Now, I'm going to climb through first, then I'm gonna grab you and pull you up. Deal?"

"Okay, but, how will you reach me?" She said.

"Hmm. Good point." He said, scanning the room and setting his eyes on the toilet. Walking over to it, he saw that he could get it off with relative ease. "Okay, so I'm going to get this toilet and you can use it as a stool so I can grab you."

"Okay, that's sounds good." She answered.

"I would step back if I were you. This is going to be a little gross." Reid warned before removing the toilet. And with a strong tug, it came loose, spilling some dirty water over the tile flooring.

"Eww!" Elizabeth squirmed.

"Okay, I'll get you out in two seconds." Reid said before climbing into the window.

"Please be fast." She said looking to the door as the groaning continued.

"I will." He replied as he crawled through the opening. It was a really tight fit, but he made it and crashed to the ground. Quickly getting up, he looked around for something to stand on. _'Of course its a garbage can!'_ He thought pulling it over. Flipping it over and climbing up, he reached through and grabbed Elizabeth's awaiting arms and pulled her through, trying to keep his balance.

"Okay lets get to the car and-" Reid was interrupted by the sight of some walkers between them and the car, coming towards them.

"What are we going to do?" Elizabeth asked fearfully.

"We have to run!" Reid said grabbing her arm, and jogging away.

_'The bag of supplies are still in the car! We have to go back!' _Reid thought to himself as they ran, as more of those 'things' came out of there hiding places and followed after them. His rational side won out and decided it best to come back later when things had maybe settled down.

"I don't feel good." Elizabeth said as they ran past some bodies on the road. He knew the feeling all to well. He was actually feeling it right now.

"Just, try not to look at them." He replied, looking around for any walking ones.

_'We need to get somewhere safe for the night.' _He thought. Reid knew they couldn't run forever, so he looked around as they ran. _'The firehouse!'_ He realized as it came into view.

"Come on Elizabeth. Not much farther." He said.

"Where are we going?" She asked, panting from the run.

"The firehouse at the end of the road." He said slowing his pace as they weren't in any immediate trouble.

"Okay, that's a good idea!" She said, glad for the slower speed.

The fire station was fairly large with a three story bell tower in one end, and single story for the rest. When it was fire season, the people who worked there almost never had a days rest. Now, with its tall fence and gate, it was a beacon of rest to Reid. It had a large sign over the front that had Smokey the bear pointing towards the reader saying 'Only YOU, can stop forest fires.'

"I'll give you a boost." He said to Elizabeth. "Just sit on the fence until I'm all the way over it."

"Okay Reid." She replied lifting her arms to be picked up.

Reid climbed the fence with ease, jumped down and helped Elizabeth to join him. They walked around quietly as they searched for a door. They found a few, but as expected they were locked. Coming around the back, there was one more door.

"Whatever's in there, you stay close to me. Ok?" Reid whispered to Elizabeth. She nodded her head for a silent reply.

Reid reached up and turned the handle, pushing the door to swing, and made his slow entry. He made his way in about to steps, when he felt something put against his neck.

"Don't move!" Commanded a voice, as he was shoved to his knees.

"Okay, okay." He managed to say through his shock, seeing a figure behind him holding a fire axe.

"What are you doing here?!" Asked the man with the axe.

Before Reid could answer, another man jogged around the corner in front of him, and said "Hey, what's going on in here? Holy shit."

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**\Authors Notes/**

**Hey guys, hope you liked chapter 3!**

**I'm sorry this has taken me so long to get up! Life's had a good laugh over all my time its eating up. Hopefully I can get into a better schedule and get some more writing done.**

**This chapter was really fun to write, but was difficult to get what I had in my mind across and onto the keyboard. I'm happy with it anyway though.**

**[Here's my thank you's, and replies to the awesome people who reviewed]**

**Paty S: **Yeah, I figured it was _just_ awful enough to do, without it being like the start to the TV show. Oh I assure you there will not be any being safe forever ;p Thank you for the kind words!

**IXxREVANxXI: **Thank you so much for the follow and favorite! It really means a lot! I plan on writing this all the way to the bitter end. So I hope you continue to enjoy it!

**Until next time, this is TheWarInside, signing out.**


	4. Chapter 4

The Walking Dead: Whatever it Takes

Part 1

Outbreak

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking dead. I only own the OCs in this story.**

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**Chapter 4**

**A/N: There is a small edit in the last chapter when Reid gets grabbed: instead of saying "Hey", Elizabeth runs back out the door.**

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Reid's legs were shoved from behind causing his knees to buckle and hit the concrete floor with a thump. The fine edge of something pressing against the back of his neck warning him to not make any sudden movements.

"Don't move!" Demanded the voice of his unknown assailant.

Reid, shocked by the situation, stuttered out something in consent. Currently he thought it best to not aggravate his attacker any more then he, or they, already were. The sound of footsteps became clear as a man dashed around the corner in front of Reid.

"Whats going on in here?" Asked the newcomer in a confused tone. "Holy shit."

"What are you doing here!?" The man behind Reid asked aggressively. "You one of those bandits?!"

Reid now overcoming his shock, while confusion set in. "What? No, of course not!"

"Then what you doin' sneaking in here at dusk!?" His assailant said, pressing the sharp object against his neck.

"Hey! Whoa settle down, whats going on here?" Asked the newcomer in front of Reid.

"Caught this guy sneakin' in here to take our stuff!" Answered the former.

Reid now on the defense began. "No! No we weren-"

"Shut up!" Interrupted his attacker "Wait, did you say '_we_ weren't?'"

"Hey!" Exclaimed the man in front of Reid. "Let him go you nitwit! He-"

"He's a bandit!" The first interrupted again."And there's more of'em out there, and you think we should just let'em go!?"

'Elizabeth!' Reid jolted at the thought. "Hey, no wait, I've just got a kid here! Just let me-"

"Let him go Gary, and for petes sake get that axe away from his neck!" Demanded the second man, causing the man known as Gary to lower the axe to his side. "All this shouting has probably attracted every walker in the whole block!"

Reid no longer being threatened to have his life ended, stood up and turned back to the door and swung it open in search of Elizabeth. His eyes quickly scanned the area in hopes of seeing her.

"Elizabeth!" He called in a hushed voice.

"Reid?" Elizabeth's voice came after a small pause, as she appeared from around the corner.

Relieved, he bent down and wrapped his arms around her in an embrace. "It's okay, I'm alright." Reid reassured her.

"I thought they were going to hurt you." Elizabeth sniffled.

"No, it's okay. They were just scared is all." Reid said trying to calm her.

"Psst! Hey guy, come back inside quick." Called out the hushed voice of the second man. "There's a lot of those creeps coming here because of all the noise!"

Reid turned his head and nodded in understanding. Though he was hesitant after what happened last time, he looked to Elizabeth and took her hand to lead her inside the firehouse. Walking in, Reid saw the man named Gary who had been is captor, albeit shortly, pacing somewhat distraught in the corner. And locking the door behind him was the second man who had freed Reid from his short custody.

"Hey friend." The man said extending a hand, which Reid took appreciatively. "The name's Donavon." He was about the same height as Reid, and had medium length black hair, a small beard on his chin. He wore a brown t-shirt that had the logo to some hardware store on it, and dark jeans that looked like they had seen better days.

"My name's Reid, and this here is Elizabeth." Reid said looking down at the girl hiding behind his leg slightly.

"Its a pleasure to meet you officially." Donavon said. "Heck, we were starting to think you might not show up at all. We sorta figured either you moved on, or were nabbed by one of those walkers."

Reid's brow twisted in confusion at the mans words. "Y-you were expecting me? Meet me 'Officially'? What gives, have we met before?"

"Wait, you sayin' you don't remember?" Donavon asked, Reid shook his head in response. "Well I suppose you were sorta in-and-out of it when I got to you."

Reid, still confused, wondered what in the world this guy was on. "What are you talking about?"

"I pulled you out of that crash you were in." Donavon answered. "Me, my wife and kid were running by and I saw you in there. So I dragged you out and shoved you under the car for some protection. After a day went by, we started doubting you were still alive."

Realization dawning on him, Reid recalled the voice he heard. _"When you wake up, you come find us okay? We'll be at the firestation"_

"Dang." Reid breathed. "I suppose that means I owe you one."

Donavon put a hand on Reids shoulder as he led him down the hall. "Actually you owe me two. Once for the car, and once from _Gary_." He said with a chuckle. "By the way, I'm sorry about that. Gary's been taking things pretty hard. Heck, everyone's taking it pretty bad."

Reid seeing this as an opportunity to find some answers. "I don't mean to sound ignorant, but, what exactly _is_ happening." He asked as they entered the mess hall of the fire house.

"Beats me. I know about as much as the next guy. Which, is not very much I might add." Donavon responded as they sat down at a table.

"Reid?" Elizabeth asked, standing next to him.

"Whats up?" Reid questioned.

Elizabeth answered by pointing over at a large sofa, with a coffee table in front with art supplies sitting on it.

"That's my daughters stuff, but your free to use it if you would like." Donavon chimed in. Elizabeth turned to Reid for confirmation. He gave a nod to which she smiled and ran over to the table to draw.

"She seems like a good kid." Donavon mused.

Reid smirked and nodded in agreement. "She sure is."

"But she aint yours is she?" Donavon questioned.

Reid, slightly surprised he could tell, but, chocked it up to a fathers instinct. "No, shes not."

"How'd you find her?" Donavon asked.

Reid sighed remembering the tragic events. "I had just finished stumbling home from the crash. I was checking the messages on my phone when I heard a scream, so I grabbed my baseball bat and ran to see what was going on. I weaved through yard after yard of houses when I finally found the screaming."

"Walker got someone?" Donavon interrupted.

"Yeah." Reid answered. "Wait, walkers?"

"Well, yeah. There just always walking so Gary thought it was a fitting name." Donavon replied. Reid thought about it and figured it was better then 'monster'.

"Anyways." Reid continued his tale. "I busted down the gate, and there was a lady being... Eaten by one of those 'walkers'. So I ran to the next yard and ran inside. She was hiding in her parents room waiting for them to get home... But I saw a picture on the wall... there was a knock on the door, so she ran to open it and there was one standing there. So I-I killed him and ran back to close the door, but... Her 'parents' were walking in. The dad was eating the mom outside and came back in to eat her." Reid said looking up at Elizabeth on the couch, pondering on what she thought of this whole situation.

"So I grabbed her and ran home." He concluded the story.

"Whoa, that's crazy man." Donavon said. "Do you think she saw her, 'parents'?"

"I sure hope not." Reid replied. "No one, _especially _not a kid, should have to see that."

"No doubt." Donavon finished.

A quiet fell on the room, leaving Reid to wonder what it was that was happening. _'Walkers?' _he thought. What a strange thing. Here he was, sitting in the Glencoe Firehouse, surrounded by people who had been turned into 'walkers' that were hungry for his flesh. Taking care of a girl he found this morning. Mistaken for a bandit, and now talking with the man who possibly saved him from suffering the same fate as seemingly many others.

Gary having come back, began talking with Donavon in a hushed voice. Reid examined the man who had threatened his neck earlier. He was shorter and a little bit rounder then most people. He had short blonde hair that seemed to swirl around his head, and a small mustache on his lip. Now that Gary wasn't holding an axe to him, he looked like a nice enough guy, but maybe not someone Reid would want to be best friends with. Though there was something oddly familiar about him...

"There's gotta be _dozens _of them out there." Gary said, Reid finally registering the conversation going on. "And what are we supposed to do if we run out of food?"

"Settle down Gary." Donavon replied. "We have got enough food to last us at the very least two weeks. That's probably more then enough time for the military to come walkin' through here and wiping these freaks out."

"What's this about running out of food?" Asked a woman walking into the room with, assuming, her daughter following close behind with a bowl in each of their hands. The woman was shorter than himself, but not a lot, and had shoulder length brown hair that curled in slightly. She didn't look a day older then thirty, and wore a yellow shirt with some blue jeans. The daughter looked to be about eleven or twelve, with long darker hair that reached the middle of her back. She wore a black t-shirt with sparkles on it and a matching set of black jeans. "Oh, who is this?" Asked the former.

"Hey, hunny. It's nothing, we got _lots_ of food." Donavon said, giving Gary a small look. "And this here is Reid, err, whats your last name?"

"O,Shea. My name's Reid O,Shea mam." Reid introduced. "And that's, Elizabeth." He finished gesturing in her direction.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Reid. My name is Sherri Stone." Sherri said. "I see you've already met my husband, Donny, and this is our daughter."

"Kaitlyn. It's nice to meet you Reid." Said the daughter, extending a hand.

Reid accepted the hand politely. Noticing Elizabeth walking towards him shyly. "Hey Elizabeth, lets introduce you." She nodded and crept beside him with her chin slightly tucked to her neck. "This is, Donavon, Sherri, Kaitlyn, and-"

"Gary." The man said, with a friendly face and an out stretched hand. "Sorry I grabbed your daddy here. I thought he was a bad guy. Forgive me?"

Elizabeth hesitantly reached her hand out, but accepted it and gave a brave face saying. "Reid is not my daddy. My daddy is, umm. I'm not sure where he is."

"Do you like drawing Elizabeth?" Sherri chimed in seeing the paper in her hands.

"Yes I do." Elizabeth said with a smile. "I used to draw all the time when I was home..." She finished with a slightly distant look to her face.

"Well, how about we go over there and draw a little bit." Sherri said leading her to the sofa. "Kaitlyn, could you go get Reid and Elizabeth some food please."

"Okay mom." Kaitlyn said jogging off down the hall.

Reid gave Sherri an appreciative look as she distracted Elizabeth from the darker mood everything seemed to fall into.

"I really am sorry." Gary apologised, bringing Reid back to the two men sitting in front of him.

"All is forgiven. I'm pretty sure everyone is pretty scared right now." Reid affirmed. "Though I am curious, a bandit?"

Both Donavon and Gary gave out a small scoffing noise. "Sometime around noon, a buncha' crackhead young guys started trying to get in here. One of them was waving a small gun around and was shouting, 'We'll be back for you blokes later!'" Gary impersonated. "All the while his friends were tryin' to fight off all them walkers."

"Do you think he will comeback?" Reid asked with a furrowed brow.

"Naw, most of his guys are gone now." Gary said.

"Where did they go?" Reid pressed, not exactly reassured yet.

"Most of them are probably what you saw outside." Donavon said.

"Dead." Gary finished grimly.

"Come on Gary, you don't know that!" Donavon stated. "For all we know they might just be sick or something."

"Oh, they are dead alright. There aint nothing alive that can be shot five times and keep standing." Gary argued. "Saw some cops running through town, popping rounds in there guts. Shotguns, pistols, rifles, nothing. These things never went down unless they got hit in there head."

Reid thinking back on his encounter had to agree. He beat that thing _really _hard with that bat and it didn't as much as flinch. "I think he's right Donavon. I was fighting off that one and it didn't even bat an eyelash when I smacked him with a metal baseball bat."

Donavon was trying hard not to accept it. "But what about all those people out there? You saying there all 'dead'? Because last I checked, dead things don't stand up and walk over to there best friend and take a bite!"

That's when they noticed Kaitlyn had come back with a bowl in hand for Reid. She looked quite shocked at what her dad said, and handed the bowl to Reid. To which he thanked her as she turned to walk to her mom and Elizabeth.

Seeing Donavon slightly disappointed his daughter had to hear that, Reid decided to just dig into his food. It was a thick stew filled with potatoes, roast beef and a variety of vegetables. As he was finishing his portion, Sherri walked back and took a seat at the table. "Thank you very much for the food Sherri." Reid said sliding the bowl away from himself. "It was delicious."

"Oh, don't mention it Reid." She replied. "So, where are you from Reid?"

Reid, pleased to have a normal conversation for what felt like the first time in forever, gave her the full story. "Well, I grew up here on the south side of Glencoe on a small property with my parents and little sister. Now I'm living in Melbourn just north of here."

"Oh, that's a pretty nice place." She responded kindly. "Me and Donny grew up in Penticton farther south. I work as a preschool teacher, so I can take my work anywhere, which is good because Donny's a Firefighter here in Glencoe now as of a couple months ago."

"What do you do Reid?" Donavon inquired curiously.

"I just finished my training for being a conservation officer. I was gonna get a truck and gear put in my name soon and start working." Reid said.

"Hmm, that's funny." Sherri said. "I suppose that means we would have met at some point in the future anyway with the blazing summers we get. I'll just chock it up to destiny that we meet."

Reid just smiled and thought it was funny because its probably true. _'Either way we would have met during some sort of tragedy.' _Reid thought, seeing as they would have met as they are now, or a wildfire burning down a habitat. He would have rather it been a wildfire.

"Now I remember you." Gary said, looking at Reid. "We met one time during your training early on. I'm the firehouses supervisor here and help choose the boys who get hired. For whatever reason, your class was having a contest of sorts, and I gave you an award for somethin' or other because you won."

The memory coming back somewhat foggy, he did remember winning a contest, but he couldn't recall what it was for. "Well, I'll be darned, I knew I recognized you, but I just couldn't remember for the life of me." Reid said.

"Well." Sherri said. "Now that we are all introduced. I'm curious how you got here Reid?"

_'I cant believe how distracted I get!'_ Reid thought, reminded of his reason for leaving home. "Well, when I was at home, I got a message from my sister. She sounded like she needed help, so, I started driving with Elizabeth to Kelowna. But we ran out of gas, got cornered, and ended up here with you guys."

"So, what's your next move?" Donavon asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. If its okay with Elizabeth I was wondering if we could stay here the night, then go pick up my conservation gear at the training center tomorrow. Then just keep driving I suppose." Reid explained.

"It's alright by us if you want to stay here, but check with the girl first. But I don't think she will object." Donavon said looking at the nearly sleeping form of Elizabeth on the sofa.

"Thank you for the hospitality." Reid said.

"No problem friend. Glad to give it. Well, I think I'm going to turn in for the night." Donavon said with a loud yawn.

"I'll take first watch." Gary said with a slight sigh.

"Don't worry about it Gary. Just get a good nights sleep tonight." Sherri said, to which Gary didn't complain and started walking down the hall.

Sherri gave Reid the directions to the sleeping quarters, as she grabbed her sleepy daughter, and wished him goodnight. Reid turning to the now seemingly more aware Elizabeth. "So what do you think?"

"What do you mean?" She asked with a small yawn.

"What do you think of these people?" He rephrased.

"Sherri is nice. And Kaitlyn is a good drawer." Elizabeth said holding up a sheet of paper with a mountainous scene drawn into it with animals and flowers drawn in various places. "She's a better drawer then me." She finished, holding up a sheet of her own that appeared to be a copy of Kaitlyn's, but with far more flowers and animals on it. Including some familiar deer.

"Aww but yours has one thing very special on it." Reid said, trying to boost her spirits.

Interested on what it was, she examined both sheets thoroughly, then shrugged. "Is it because mine has more color?"

Reid let out a low chuckle. "No. Its the deer. Those are the deer we saw when we were driving. Am I right?"

"Yes they are." Elizabeth said with a smile. "But, how does that make it special?" She inquired with a tilt of her head, letting her red hair flow over the paper.

"There special, because you saw them, remembered them, and made them _immortal_, by drawing them in this picture." Reid said, leaving Elizabeth with wide eyes. "That means, as long as this picture stays together, those deer will be remembered _forever_."

"Oh, I think I get it." She said looking at it as if it were a brand new picture in her hands.

"So, it's getting late. You think its time for bed?" He asked, receiving his answer with a huge yawn and stretch of her arms. Reid just chuckled again and led her by the hand to the sleeping quarters.

"Reid?" Elizabeth asked as she laid down on the bed.

"What is it?" Reid wondered with a deep yawn of his own.

After a long pause, Reid figured she had fallen asleep from all the days action, when she finally voiced something. "Never mind."

"Ok." Reid said as he laid down in his own bed, left to wonder what she was going to say as he drifted off into a deep slumber.

* * *

**\Authors Notes/**

**Hey guys! Long time no see! I'm back! Yay! It has been a crazy long time since my last chapter, so I'm not surprised if you guys think I gave up on the story, but I refuse to quit! If you want to know why I was missing for so long, you can check the update on my profile.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Lots of new characters I hope you guys can fall in love with and watch with me as they develop into real****survivors! Also thought I would mention that I have made up two fictional towns for the purpose of this story: Glencoe and Melbourn. Glencoe is where Reid grew up, and where he was picked up by Chris in the first chapter. Melbourn is where the events of chapter one went to, and is where Reid, and Elizabeth live. **

**[Here's my thank you's, and replies to the awesome people who reviewed, followed or faved]**

Shout out to StundedDarkness for the follow and favorite! Really means a lot to me.

...No reviews here so this is an awkward place to be... Reviews fuel my fingers. Just sayin.

**Until next time, this is TheWarInside, signing out.**


	5. Chapter 5

The Walking Dead: Whatever it Takes

Part 1

Outbreak

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**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking dead. I only own the ****OCs**** in this story.**

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**Chapter 5**

"Reid." Called out a familiar female voice. "Come on Reid, if you don't get up we're going fishing without you."

Opening his eyes, Reid saw the form of his sister standing in the doorway to his tent. "Alright, alright. I'm coming." He replied sleepily as he sat up reaching for his day clothes. Stepping out of his tent, Reid gave a big stretch to the sky in salutations to the morning.

"Morning sleeping beauty." Chris teased, interrupting Reid as he admired the lake in front of him. "I suppose a princess needs her beauty sleep."

"Shut up." Reid retorted bluntly. "You know I get up when I dang well please."

"Whatever. You needed the sleep. The bags you get under your eyes are a sight not even a mother could love." Chris pestered.

"Come on Chris, go easy on the guy." Kyle chimed in. "Your one to talk about ugly mugs. Remember that time when-"

"Point taken bro." Chris interrupted.

"Come on boys, those fish aren't going to catch themselves." Karen said, diffusing the situation with a smile.

Reid, not wanting to waste a moment of blissful fishing, jogged over to a canoe and hoisted it over his head. The boat plopped into the clear blue water with a splash, followed by a scream. Reid's eyes darted around, panicked by the sound. By the tents he saw a terrible sight.

It was a familiar man, hunched over the body of a familiar woman who unleashed the scream. Turning to the right, he saw Chris by the parking lot, with his pistol in hand, taking cover behind a concrete barrier. On the other side of the barrier was a city on fire, with hundreds of humanistic figures, shuffling to his hiding place.

Reid looked to his left, where a familiar table stood, with a familiar phone on it. It rang, so Reid picked it up, wondering who it could be in all this chaos. "Dude, I don't know what's going on but its crazy out here." Chris' voice sounded over the line. Curious, Reid looked back to the one speaking on the other end. He was holding a phone to his ear, and as the figures got closer he would peek up and fire shots at them to no effect.

"Kyle's been calling me, but I cant call him back because its so crazy out here. I hope you're safe man, because... W-well, I-I'm in a bit of a tight spot right now." Chris continued, every word sounding like deja vu to Reid.

"Okay I've got to go, but you promise me to go check on Kyle and your sister." Chris finished, standing up and throwing the cell phone at the figures, and firing the rest of his clip vainly at the many monsters that surrounded his position.

Looking back at the tree line, instead of tents, he saw the camping store Karen and Kyle worked at. Dropping the phone, he walked over and peered through the window, to his dread, he saw Karen screaming behind the counter as Kyle beat the heads of the walkers surrounding them.

Reid began pounding on the glass to no avail, trying to go save his sister and her future husband. The walkers had gotten within arms reach. Karen looked into Reids eyes, and said in a haunting voice as walkers began feasting on her flesh.

"End of message."

v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v

"Ahh!" Reid shouted, sitting up. He felt like his body was on fire, and was covered in an alarming amount of sweat. _"It was just a dream." _He thought with relief, holding his face in his hands. He couldn't wrap his mind around why the human mind would haunt itself like that. It just made no logical sense, why would your subconscious scare you so much? What does it gain from doing it? Reid didn't have an answer, but he had his share of nightmares over his life, and every time he awoke from one he hoped it was his last.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Elizabeth asked, shocking Reid a little bit. _"How long had she been sitting there?"_

"Yeah." Reid admitted under his breath, but loud enough she would hear. "But, that's all it was. Nothing to be afraid of." He finished, trying to sound brave for her, when in reality, he was terrified of it.

"I have bad dreams sometimes. But my mom used to come and make me feel better." Elizabeth said, trying to help Reid. He smiled that she seemed to care about his well being.

"Well, I guess we can help each other then." Reid said with a tilt of his head and an extended hand. "Deal?"

Elizabeth took it heartily and shook it as firmly as a nine year old could. "Deal."

They walked back into the common area where they saw Sherri and Kaitlyn sitting at a table, and Gary was standing at the counter, apparently in need of a dose of caffein judging by the bags under his eyes. "Good morning Reid. Good morning Elizabeth." Sherri said kindly, waving them over. Reid appreciated her kindness and walked over with a smile and Elizabeth in tow.

He bid them good morning taking a seat on the opposite side of the table. "Wheres Donavon?" Reid asked.

"He's just checking outside right now." Sherri replied. "Checking to make sure you can get out of here if you still planned to."

Reid nodding his understanding. _"Never thought how I was going to get out." _ He thought to himself. He still wasn't sure what he even planned on doing yet. He knew one thing though, He had to find Karen and Kyle. After his 'dream' he was more distressed then he was when he heard the messages on his phone. It was still and hour drive to get to her house in Kelowna, not that he had his car anymore. If he got his truck from the training center, he could pickup the stuff in his car and just keep driving, assuming the crowds around it had dispersed.

Shaking Reid from his thoughts, Sherri placed down a bowl of porridge each in front of him and Elizabeth.

"Thank you." Reid and Elizabeth said in unison, thankful for the warm meal for breakfast. Reid used to never like porridge, but when he went camping with his dad, it was all they ever ate in the mornings. So eating it now brought back some memories of better times.

"Reid, you still thinking of leaving today?" Donavon asked entering the room, successfully removing the thoughts from Reids mind.

"I was hoping to. My sister is out there in this mess and I don't plan on leaving her out there." Reid replied.

"Well, you might want to reconsider." Donavon replied, motioning Reid to follow him. Reid followed after him with an, apparently curious, Gary behind him. Donavon took them through some doors and up a set of stairs to a ladder, which he climbed first, Reid going second and Gary coming up the rear. At the top of the ladder was a small room, surrounded by glass walls which gave an excellent view of the area.

"Whoa." Reid said, horrified by the sight. Dozens of walkers were milling about the streets. Some were missing limbs, while some dragged themselves with there arms. There was a _lot _more of them compared to last night. "How did they find us here?" Reid asked no one in particular as he stared at a mob of them pushing up against the gate, reaching through hopelessly with there mangled arms.

"Must of heard all the commotion we made last night." Donavon said, causing Gary to look a little bit sheepish.

"How am I supposed to get through that?!" Reid exclaimed, slightly frustrated with his luck.

"You cant get through that." Gary said with a flat expression. Then, his face lit up. "Unless _we, _go through that!"

"What are you going on about Gary?" Donavon asked, impatient to hear an answer.

"_We_." Gary said, gesturing to himself and Donavon. "Could drive the firetruck through that. It could _easily _get through that." He said confidently. Donavon's features lit up at the thought, but sank down slightly.

"What about my family? I'm not bringing them out there, not in that." He said pointing at the mass of bodies standing on the street.

"We could leave them here, safe and sound, while you, me and Reid go get his stuff. It's fool proof!" Gary explained.

Donavon seamed to mull over the thought. "What do you think Reid?"

Reid didn't think it sounded that bad. They would only be gone for an hour or two, would come back with supplies, and he could get back to looking for Karen. All-in-all, it sounded worth the risk to him. "I think we should do it. But we should probably check it over with the ones were leaving behind."

"Fair enough." Gary said, glad he thought up the plan.

_"Lets just hope nothing goes wrong." _Reid thought to himself. As much as he liked the plan, he had a bad feeling about it. Figuring it was just the bad sleep making him negative, he tried to shake the feeling.

Walking back into the common area, Donavon dismissed Kaitlyn to the couches while he talked with his wife. Elizabeth was sitting on the couch opposite of Kaitlyn, straight faced and unmoving, seemingly sensing that something was about to happen. Reid called her over to an empty table, where they sat down awkwardly. He realized he still knew next to nothing about the girl across from him. Her red hair was curled at the ends wildly, and the shirt she wore looked dirty. He made a mental note to grab the hoody from his abandoned car before they left again.

"What's going on?" Elizabeth asked with a tilt of her head.

_"Where to begin." _Reid thought silently. "Well, you know how we had to leave my car at the gas station? Well that means I need a new vehicle to drive. But we also need something to protect us, so me, Gary and Donavon are going out to grab something's."

"But what about all the monsters?" Elizabeth asked with a worried expression.

"Well, that's why we are checking with you and Donny's family." Reid replied.

Elizabeth's head turned down and her brows furrowed in thought. After a moment she looked back at Reid. "Ok. But, you have to _promise_ to be safe." She said with a long emphasis on promise.

Reid smiled at her concern for him. They'd only known each other a day and had already made several promises to each other. "Of course I promise."

"That's good." She said with a nod of her head.

"Now you promise me something." Reid said, receiving a curious look from her. "Promise me you take care of Kaitlyn and Sherri. And don't worry about me, just try to have fun."

"Cross my heart and hope to die, with a _needle _in my eye." Elizabeth said, marking an X over her heart.

Standing up, Reid saw Sherri walking down the hall to the bed rooms. Reid couldn't quite put a name to the emotion splayed across Donavon's face, but he knew it meant his wife didn't approve of there the plan. Gary walked back in the room, dressed in his Firemen's uniform and carrying several axes. Reid knew it was a scary moment for everyone, but he knew this needed to happen. But he couldn't help but feel a huge debt to these people already. How could he ask anymore of them? Not that he did ask, Gary was actually the one to offer the helping hand. Reid figured it was probably his way of making it up to him for holding him hostage last night.

While the firemen prepped the truck for there outing, Reid's thoughts started to assault him. _"You do realize you don't even know these people right? What about leaving __Elizabeth__ behind with __Sherri__? And what of those bandits they were talking about? What if we get trapped outside? And what about-"_

"You ready to go?" Donavon asked, shaking Reid from his pessimistic thoughts.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He replied.

The process seemed simple, but involved several risks. First, Reid had to press a switch for the garage door to open. Then Gary had to run out and open the gate while Donavon drove the truck out. Reid would then close the garage, and jump in the back seat while Gary had to stop any walkers getting in the yard, close the gate behind them, and then finally jump back into the truck. All-in-all, it sounded like a stupid plan. But it was the only one they had.

"Alright, the sooner we get going the sooner we get back!" Donavon shouted from the drivers seat.

Reid pressed the button and the winch activated, pulling the large door upwards. The noise of the door raising caused most of the 'people' outside to walk over to the gate. The site of them made Reid's heart pace increase, and the overpowering smell of rot made him nearly gag.

As soon as the door was all the way up, Donavon drove the truck out into the yard and signaled Reid to close the doors. After making sure it was all the way down, he jumped in the truck and waved for gary to open the gate. Gary's skin had paled and he looked like he was either sick from the smell, or the fear. The gate was blocked from the other side from the sheer amount of walkers trying to push there way through. Reid could see Gary staring at the mass outside for a moment, then he turned and walked to the truck.

"There's no way I'm going to be able to open that." Gary said through the window.

"Well, what do think we should do?" Donavon asked, slightly flustered.

The air was filled with the sounds of the crowds moans for there next meal. Reid looked at the gate latch, and back at the mass of bodies on the other side, a plan formulating in his head. "This may not sound fun, but I have a plan." The others looked at him expectantly.

"Well, as long as it works, lets hear it." Donavon said.

"Ok, so, I'll go stand outside and hold the latch open. You push the gate open with the truck and drive halfway down the block. Then I close the gate and run and catch up with you guys." Reid explained. The other two men were quiet, letting the plan, and the risks, set in.

"Ok." Donavon said, trying to be confident. "You just better run like heck to catch up. Because those guys are going to be following right behind us."

Reid nodded his head acknowledgement, and stepped out the door of the firetruck. His hands trembled on the handle of the axe as he walked to the latch on the gate. The monsters outside reached through the gate for anything to grab onto. Most of them had bundled up on the gate, so when it swung open, they would likely be shoved by it. Reaching for the latch, he looked back and saw Donavon give him a thumbs up.

Reid flipped the latch open and gestured for them to start driving. The roar of the engine spurring on the walkers, causing them to sing there horrible chorus of moans and growls louder. The trucks front made it to the gate and the many hands tried to get purchase, but as it pushed against the gate, broke all of there arms and hands. Reid cringed at the repeated crunch of broken bones as he backed away a little bit.

The gate began to slowly swing open, knocking the vile things over and scraping there rotting flesh over the pavement, leaving a horrible red skid mark across the ground. Finally open wide enough, the firetruck drove out and took off slowly down the street, with several walkers trailing behind in a limp. Reid quickly ran forward, careful not to slip on the blood covered road, and pulled the gate shut. Seeing there new prize, the pile of walkers began there groans anew as they dragged there broken bodies in Reid's direction.

His heart beating out of his chest, Reid turned and began running in the direction the truck had gone, easily dodging many of the walkers on the wayside. A group of three walkers saw him and began to shuffle in his direction with there arms extended. Reid was quick to bash the closest one with the blunt side of his axe, causing it to fall over, and dodged under the reach of the others.

The truck was only another twenty five feet in front of him, and there didn't seem to be any immediate threats, so he slowed himself to a jog._"Well, this went better then I __thoug__-"_ Reid was cut from the thought as a walker appeared from behind a dumpster, and shoved him to the ground, causing him to drop his axe away from there wrestling.

Fear coursed through his system as he held the monster up and away from his body, while its teeth gnashed greedily. He managed to give it a huge shove, making it fall backwards onto the pavement. He quickly tried to turn over and stand up, but was halted as it grabbed his ankle, making him fall back down to the road. It's grip was surprisingly strong as he attempted to shake his leg free from its grasp. He gave it a couple swift kicks to the head, freeing himself from its rotting fingers.

As he was crawling away backwards, he noticed the other walkers coming to join the first, and began to panic. The first walker had gotten his foot again and began to pull itself on top of him, back to there original position, only now, Reid was running out of strength.

_"So this is how it ends." _Reid thought as his grip loosened slightly, watching the figures shuffling closer. Reid closed his eyes as the walker was about to get a mouthful of his throat. Then there was the sound of impact, followed by the walker on top of him going totally slack.

"Come on Reid!" Donavon's booming voice sounded. "I'm not letting you die that easily."

v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v^V^v

The training center was a huge complex. It used to be a college, but it was abandoned years ago and was modified to be a training center for police officers and the like. There were three main buildings: The schooling center, the gym, and the firing range. Reid described the layout on the drive over and they formulated a plan. First, in the schooling center, they would find Reids locker with his uniform, keys, and some of his things. Then they would go to the gym to grab some walkie-talkies and various other gear. And finally, the firing range to grab some guns. Reid figured it would be simple enough, but was still shaken after the close call earlier.

They pulled up to the fenced in parking lot and parked the firetruck for an easy get away, just in case. Looking out the windows, Reid couldn't see any walkers in the area, but remained alert and cautious anyways. The three men looked at each other as if to confirm they all knew the plan, to which they nodded there heads and slowly exited the firetruck.

"Man, this place is a little bit creepy when its abandoned." Gary whispered, trying to stay calm.

"It sure is." Reid responded with a nod.

They had already made it inside the schooling center without hearing as much as the wind blowing, but Reid was trying to remain alert. And it payed off, because just as they were going to round the corner to the lockers, they heard a small groan from around the corner. All three men crouched down and crept closer to the edge. No one seemed to be volunteering to look, so Reid took the initiative and peeked his head around.

Standing right in the middle of the hall, about five meters away, was the rotting husk of a man he could only assume was a janitor. It wore a blue jumpsuit and had a large red spot on the back of its neck where teeth had met his flesh.

"There's just one." He whispered to the others. "He's facing the other way."

"Make sure you get his head." Gary whispered back, offering his axe to him.

Reid rolled his eyes, taking the axe in his hand. _"Of course __I__ have to do it._" He thought to himself as he slowly crept toward the creature's backside. With each step his heart pounded just a little bit faster, until he was within striking distance. Standing up, he rose the axe above his head, and swung down on the skull of the unsuspecting monster. The axe imbed itself into the bone of its head, sounding a cracking noise as various colors of liquid, and solids, spurted from the wound.

The body collapsed to the ground limply, the axe going down with it, clattering against the floor quietly. Reid let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, and noticed the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He bent over with his hands on his knees, quietly dry heaving from the stress of the moment leaving his system. Reid jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder, but saw it was Donavon trying to reassure him.

He let out one more huff and stood up strait. "_Now to get the axe back." _He thought as he looked to the corpse of the man in front of him. Reaching down, he gripped the handle and tried to pull it, but it only resulted in lifting the dead mans head. Next he hesitantly put his foot on its neck and gave a sharp tug, loosing the axe with a terrible squishing noise. With a disgusted look on his face, Donavon motioned for them to carry on.

"Okay, this is it." Reid said quietly, standing in front of his locker.

"Alright, lets speed this up a bit. This place is giving me the creeps." Gary whispered.

"Well it's not like you had to come." Donavon said.

"I know, but I felt like I had to help out somehow."

"Shhh." Reid whispered. "We're all here now so lets not get distracted."

He had the locker open and began grabbing several things from it. Flashlight, truck keys, id card, badge and uniform. "Okay, I got everything here. Next, we need a key for the other facilities."

"How much you wanna bet that janitor had a set of keys?" Gary proposed.

"_Probably pretty good._" He thought, looking back at the body. Walking over, he placed his things on the floor and took a deep breath. Rolling the body over, he saw a name tag and id on his chest. Harald Smithson was his name, and he appeared to have been in his sixties. He probably had a wife, kids, and maybe even some grandkids. Now here he was, laying on the floor. Dead.

"Alright, lets get to the gym." Reid said holding up a set of keys.

The others nodded as he grabbed his things. They continued to creep along, not hearing or encountering anymore walkers, which was a relief, but somehow worrying. Using the keys to open the gym, he checked the others were ready, and slowly opened the door. If there were going to be more walkers anywhere, it was going to be in here. And to there disappointment, he was right.

From what he could see, there were at least three of them, but there could be more hidden in various places. The whole room stunk of rotting flesh, and there were large pools of blood on the floor in several places.

"Okay, everyone choose a guy and lets get to it." Donavon whispered, gripping his axe.

"What about me? Reid has my axe." Gary said maybe slightly to loud, causing the walkers to look in there direction with slack jaws.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. Come on Reid." Donavon said, walking towards the shambling figures.

Reid handed his stuff to Gary, and with a shrug, jogged out to help Donavon. One walker took particular interest in Reid and began its deathly walk to him. It was another student, but its face was to marred to recognize, which as horrible as it was, Reid was relieved because then he wouldn't have to know whose head he was chopping. It shuffled in his direction, lips pealed back and bloody hands reaching out. Reid quickly sidestepped it, and swung down, ending its terrible existence with a thunk.

Reid, this time quick to retrieve his axe, he saw Donavon had taken care of one walker, but it looked like he couldn't get his axe back. He saw the distress in Donavon's face and ran over to take care of the other one crawling towards his ankles, delivering a quick kick to its midsection, rolling it on its back. And with a grunt, swung down, and cut its head off. Its head rolled away several feet, while blood poured out of its neck.

"I guess that's one." Donavon said. "Now you only owe me _two_."

Reid chuckled a bit, but felt to mortified to laugh out loud.

Startling the both of them, to there horror, the jaw of the severed head began to move by the snapping of its teeth. Donavon quickly pulled his axe out of the first walker, and with a downward swing, split the head in two. Spilling its brain out into two sections across the floor, while its skull flew off in other directions. And that's what pushed them all over the edge. They all hurled at the purely horrific sight around them.

"What the hell is going on! Why is this happening?" Donavon vented, wiping his mouth, frustrated.

Reid finally finished heaving, turned to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know. But we are going to get through it. We have to."

Donavon looked him in the eye and let out a sigh. "Your right. We'll get through it."

"Well then." Gary started after he finished letting his breakfast out on the floor. "I want out of this place, so whats next?"

Reid agreed and pointed to a door that led to a storage room. Opening the door and turning on the light, they saw shelves of various conservation equipment. Wasting no time, Reid grabbed three backpacks and a duffel bag for the guns later and shoved one into the others arms. "Grab whatever you think we can use. I don't think anyone's coming back for this stuff."

Reid grabbed everything he thought he would need while he looked for Karen: Protein bars, flashlights, batteries, walkie-talkies, a pocket knife, a machete, a compass, and a map of B.C. After stashing the stuff in his bag, he put the duffel over his shoulder and checked on the other guys. They seemed hesitant to grab anything, which Reid thought was odd. But, then again, it sure did feel like they were stealing.

"Don't worry about the stuff guys. I can always bring it back once this all blows over." Reid said.

"_If _this blows over." Gary corrected.

"Oh come on Gary, of course this is going to be over soon. We already heard the military was heading through the larger cities. You think a few of these, 'walkers', are going to stop the army? Uh uh, no way." Donavon said, walking out the room.

Gary let out a sigh and turned back to Reid. He looked like he was going to say something, but changed his mind, walking out the door. "_What was that all about?_" Reid pondered. This was going to be over soon, right? Now he wasn't so sure.

After sneaking down empty halls, and across the truck storage yard, they arrived at the gun range. It used to be a soccer field, but there were large walls erected on all sides, and a main building to go into where the storage was. Passing through several locked gates, they made it to the door. Donavon pressed his ear against it, trying to hear anything inside. After giving them a silent nod, they opened the door and made there way in.

The main room was void of any signs of recent life which Reid took as a good sign as he turned the key for the storage room. Inside was pitch black, and the lights seamed to be burnt out. Pulling out his flashlight, he shined it on the fenced of cage where the guns and ammunition were tucked away.

"Holy, that's a lot of guns, eh Donny." Gary said, eyes wide at the sight.

"Sure is Gary." Donavon said, gazing over the various firearms.

Reid chuckled a little. Being Canadian meant most civilians had little to no firearms usage unless they went hunting. He couldn't think of one person who owned a pistol besides other peace keepers. Handing the duffel bag to Gary, he opened the metal cage and made his way down one row of shelves, looking for his pistol on a shelf, along with its holster and several boxes of ammunition. It was a Smith &amp; Wesson model 5906, standard issue side arm, that shot 9mm rounds in a ten round magazine. He had only used it once beyond the firing range, and all that happened was a hunter was high on crack and had been waving a rifle around in the air.

Next, he was looking for his shotgun. It was a standard, 8 shot, Remington 12-guage shotgun. He couldn't quite recall where those were, so he took a moment searching the shelves.

"You, ever shoot any of these?" Gary wondered out loud, looking at several rifles hanging on the far wall.

"Only in the firing range." Reid said, finally finding the shotgun.

"You a good shot?" Donavon asked.

"Second best in my class, which is pretty good, because the first best was an ex military guy." Reid said, walking back to the front aisle, with several boxes of shells in his other hand.

"Is that loaded?" Donavon asked, pointing at the shotgun. "Because I would rather take those creeps out with that then these stupid axes."

"_This might be more messy though._" Reid thought grimly, as he stuffed eight shells into it. "Alright, if you guys wanna grab something, make it quick-"

"AHHH!" Gary screamed as blood spurted from the now much small shoulder. "HELP ME!"

Reid, shocked by the scream dropped the shells on the ground and ran over to Gary, seeing his dragged to the floor by the rotting form of his conservation trainer. Fear, evident in Gary's eyes, he screamed as he tried to claw himself away from his attackers grasp. Like a deer in the headlights, Reid froze staring at the horrid sight, as more walkers shambled through the open door behind Gary. Before he could snap out of it, the screams of Gary's blood covered body ceased as the walker tore out his throat.

"Don't just stand their Reid! Shoot them!" Donavon's voice boomed, shaking him from his shock.

Raising the barrel, flicking the safety, and pulling the trigger, the head of the creature exploded from the pellets assaulting its skull. Raising higher, he shot the other two crowding closer to the door as he began to run out and over the bodies. Donavon right behind him as they escaped the storage room, they saw the front door, open and a walker standing in it. Taking aim again, he pulled the trigger loosing another hail of pellets that penetrated the walkers head, leaving it to fall in a bloody pile to the ground.

"Dang'it who left that door open!" Reid shouted, looking back at Donavon whose eyes were wide as saucers. Not actually wanting an answer yet, he ran out the door with Donny in tow. Several walkers had found there way through the gates in front of them.

Reid shot one, then two, as they charged out into the parking lot where, seemingly, all the walkers from the firehouse had followed them to. The truck was close, but he was surrounded by several rotting men and women. "_One more and we have a straight shot for the truck._" He thought, taking aim at the final one directly in there way.

"Reid! Help!" Donavon shouted from behind him. He turned to see he was struggling with one who had its jaw clamped around the handle of his axe. Reid could see the crowds of others that were almost in arms reach of him. He could see the odds stacked against Donny and the most selfish, horrible, rational thought popped into his mind.

"_Leave him! He wont make it, there are to many._" Reid's logical mind fought.

"Help me Reid! I can't hold them back!"

Reid could almost hear his dads voice. "_There are three kinds of people in this world. Those with a sword, the ones with a shovel, and the ones with a shield. The ones who stand at the front, take the beating, and the scars, for the sake of those behind them."_

Quickly lifting the stock to his shoulder, he pulled the trigger, ending Donavon's struggle with the walker. Turning back to one in front of himself, he tried to fire another shot, but heard an empty click, and was shoved to the ground by the monster. It scratched and groped to get a bite as he held it up with tired arms. He grabbed his pistol and held it to its jaw.

* * *

**\Authors Notes/**

**Hey guys, hoped you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did!**

**I****'ve been thinking, and I have decided I'm going to change the way I'm writing a little bit. I'm going to start doing light edits and uploading right away, rather then doing heavy edits and slowing the release of new chapters. Because I had this chapter 'finished' over two weeks ago, then just didn't have the motivation to edit, and well here we are. Thoughts?**

**I also have one request for all you readers: If you see anything inconsistent, spelled wrong repeatedly, or something in the way that I write that drives you crazy, just tell me. Half the reason I'm writing this story is to get better at it, but without feedback I'm going to fall into bad writing habits... So I'm not asking you to review for the sake of making this story popular, I'm just asking you give me some criticism so that I can make this the best story it can be!**

**Until next time, this is ****TheWarInside****, signing out.**


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